Location preference for new East Bay Non-fiction book club

August 27, 2009

Dear Everyone,

Hi! I am starting an East Bay non-fiction book club. Meetings will be once a month, and I will try hard when scheduling the group to make sure that it doesn't conflict with Food for Thought's meetings. Chosen by people in the group, the readings will be on anything non-fiction that relates to animal rights. For example, books on animal rights and philosophy, direct action, the law, religion, etc., etc.!

After lots of searching, I have narrowed the meeting space down to two finalists and I'd like to know which one people would prefer.

Drum roll please : )

The first finalist is the Central Branch of the Berkeley library.

Pros: Literally a stone's throw from Berkeley BART.

Cons: Hard to park. Must park at least one block away and that is metered. Within about 4 blocks, there is non-metered parking, but it's not plentiful. Meetings would be on Saturday afternoons and only 1 + 1/2 hours, because parking is metered for 2 hours. Library says it is " hard to set up tables/chairs " (I would think we'd only need one table) because they are heavy.

Second finalist: The Albany Library. (For those not in East Bay, Albany is next to Berkeley.)

Pros: They have a parking lot and there's lots of street parking. Meetings could be Sat. or Sun. afternoons as they are open both days. Meetings can be 2 hours because no worrying about parking.

Cons: They are over 2 miles from the nearest BART station.

Pro or con depending on your schedule: meetings would probably be Sunday as they " book up fast on Saturdays " .

So, before I go ahead and start what I think will be a really great book club, I would like to know what location the majority of people would like best.

Hope everyone is having a nice day on this welcome sunny morning : )

Stephanie

-- " Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. " Albert Einstein " The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated. " Mahatma Gandhi